Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 77,773 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,773 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.47% of Albemarle worth $1,056,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,167,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 173,441 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 6,393.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,975,000 after purchasing an additional 150,047 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its position in Albemarle by 1,213.0% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 158,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,657,000 after purchasing an additional 146,566 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 294.7% during the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 187,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $16,103,000 after purchasing an additional 139,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Albemarle by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,600 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price target on Albemarle and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.06.

Albemarle Stock Up 7.0%

Albemarle stock opened at $80.77 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.99. The company has a market cap of $9.50 billion, a PE ratio of -8.67 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -17.38%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services.